


Shattered

by assassinade



Category: Pretty Little Liars
Genre: Angst, Dark, Hurt/Comfort, Pain
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-07-13
Packaged: 2019-06-09 00:07:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15255066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/assassinade/pseuds/assassinade
Summary: Aria has lost herself in the brutal process of helping out A.D, but no one seems to realize that she is on the brink of letting lose. When Spencer finally notices that Aria is completely broken and acknowledges that something is terribly wrong, she steps up and tries to understand. It won't be easy to get Aria back though, as she still feels immense guilt over what she has done. And it might get her into even more trouble.





	1. All is Not Well

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, this is my first fanfiction that I've written, and I thought I would dedicate it to Team Sparia because I love it. 
> 
> This is my view of how everything should have turned out after The Liars found out about Aria helping A.D.
> 
> Contains some Alison bashing.
> 
> This is NOT a Sparia romantic fanfiction, and their relationship is purely platonic.
> 
> Thnx, let the fun begin >:) 
> 
> [I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS, ALL RIGHTS GO TO SARAH SHEPHERD AND THE WRITERS]

Aria walked gingerly into her and Ezra’s apartment, feeling silent shakes emerge from her fragile body. She went over to the table top and got her phone out, waiting for a text from Ezra. Whilst she put her device down, she saw the angry red scratch that spread diagonally over her arm, blood wanting to seep out. She pressed on it, trying to see whether something would happen, and the crimson liquid trickled down calmly in light drops. She didn’t even care about that, she just flashed back to a couple of minutes ago when she had completely trashed Emily and Ali’s nursery. She hadn’t felt so bad and utterly disgusted with herself in all her life-time. It might as well have been her own blood that she splattered over their belongings. Tears were on the brink of falling from her pearly green eyes, wetting her lower lid and clasping the ends of her dark eyelashes, threatening to let go. She wasn’t afflicted by the vital fluid that was serenely running down her frail arm, and just escorted herself to the couch, casually, yet frantically, and laid down, harsh sobs racking her entire body. She had to let it all out as she cried herself to sleep.

The following day she had a dance session with Ezra that she was most definitely not looking forward to. Her hand still ached from yesterday’s happenings, and her limbs felt sore and were still tremoring. She glanced at herself in the bathroom mirror and examined the façade she had managed to put on. Make-up could truly cover anything, she had learned. She applied a healthy dose of concealer to her fore-arm to hide the nasty scar that had already started forming. For a while, she could hide herself under this persona, but she didn’t know how long she could keep it up. A part of her wanted the girls to find out about what A.D was making her do, especially Spencer, but another fraction of her told her not to, as she was afraid of the outcome and what they might say to her. Ultimately, she didn’t know what to do, and there was no one she could ask for help.  
She decided to skip breakfast as she wasn’t particularly hungry. Lately, she found herself feeling quite queasy and often put meals to the side, but she didn’t have the time to go around seeing if it was noticeable. Aria had always been quite small and slender, the shortest of all of her friends, but now she thought that she might’ve been the tiniest she’d ever been. She had started not to care. If someone would ask, she would just brush it off by saying it was the stress of all the events coming up, especially her wedding. At this point, she didn’t know if she even wanted a wedding anymore. Sure, she loved Ezra, but now she felt this immense weight that she had done terrible things to him and that she doesn’t deserve him. Or anyone for that matter.  
She got dressed and ready, putting on a red skirt and a navy-blue blouse. She hated wearing skirts or dresses these days. She loved the comfort of trousers and t-shirts. As she grew older, she developed a more casual style than she had before, but some of her quirkiness still remained there in a few of her outfits. Sweeping her heels on, she trembled to the door and grabbed her phone and petty purse, not being completely sure with how she would even manage to walk over there, let alone dance. But she would somehow figure it out as always, even if in the process she lost a little bit of herself.

During the dance rehearsal, Ezra had asked whether he stepped on her foot, since she seemed as if she was in pain, which she denied by saying that her shoes didn’t fit her well. But in reality, her hand was throbbing and her feet weren’t in the greatest condition either. After Ezra left to do something for his brother, A.D instantly called her.

***

She was sick and tired of A.D. Everything he or she set her up to, made her lose her mind. She wanted to be strong, she wanted to escape A.D’s grasp, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t jeopardize her and Ezra’s marriage because it wouldn’t be fair to him, but she couldn’t hurt her friends either, which she had already done. It felt as if her brain was being teared up into millions of miniscule pieces that she couldn’t glue back together. 

*** 

Aria was turning her head in multiple directions, trying to figure out A.D’s meeting point and location. She couldn’t see properly through the dense trees or the darkness of the night, but she did hear ruffling somewhere in the distance. She decided to follow the sound, and ended up in a small clearing. She felt a hand grab at her and shove her hoodie off, and the breeze of cool air caught the tip of her head, brushing her hair strands. When she briskly turned around to see who had done that, the view in front of her made her have mixed feelings. She didn’t know if she wanted to throw up, or smile because her friends were there. To some extent she was glad that they've finally seen wha she had been up to, but didn’t want to know the end of it. She was about to find out anyway, though.  
Her friends bombarded her with questions that she tried to answer with her shaking voice, but they kept interrupting or cutting her off. When she finally got out the story behind why she was working with A.D, all of them, even Spencer, were quick to judge her. Ali saying that Ezra didn’t matter at all, but how could he not? Did she not realize that this was a person, a human being, that she was in love with? She couldn’t have simply betrayed him. But she couldn’t have betrayed her friends either. She didn’t know what to do, so she chose what she thought was the easier latter. Only there was no such thing as a simple way. But what stung her the most were Spencer’s words: ‘Because of you, I’ve lost everything that I ever had!’  
That phrase, that voice, kept resonating in her ears, constantly, and she couldn’t get it out. She didn’t want to hurt Spencer. She didn’t want to hurt any of them. But she had. So maybe she didn’t exactly deserve them. Or anyone. Not after what she had done.

The liars minus Aria, were all sitting around a secluded coffee table in The Brew. They were pondering over what just happened and why Aria had ever even considered A.D’s deal. Emily was rather sorry and sympathetic towards her, and tried to come up with all sorts of excuses but none of them seemed to add up. Ali was not having any of it, and was sure as hell that she would keep giving Aria the cold shoulder for a long time. Hanna was in between sides, giving arguments in both cases. And Spencer was just deeply thinking. She wished she could take back the words she said to Aria because they were unfair and untrue. Aria hadn’t ruined everything she ever had. Hell, she made her life better. She was her closest friend and the other half of team Sparia. She couldn’t let her go down the drain like this. She was also engrossed about Aria’s health. Could she be badly hurt, both mentally and physically? For sure she was, at least psychologically speaking. And even if Aria had made some abhorrent choices, Spencer couldn’t help not being worried about her state. What was she doing right now? Where was she right now? Could she be in danger? Or in trouble with A.D? She had to know. She briskly hoisted herself up, and debouched out of the coffee shop without a word spoken.

Aria thought of everything that happened as she was sitting with her head that felt heavier than ever in her shaking hands, trying desperately to blink back lead tears. How could she have done this? That was the one question she steadily asked herself. Suddenly, she heard a knock at her door, and reluctantly went to open it, slightly shuddering. Spencer was standing there, a pained look on her face, but clearly wanting to come in and talk.

With an apologetic gaze, Aria let her in and pointed towards the stools of her mini-bar-like table. Spencer marched in, the clinking of her shoes echoing throughout the entire apartment.

“Spence, I am so, so, sorry, and I-I want you to kno-“ She blurted out but got cut by her friends voice.

“I know you are. And I want to forgive you, but I can’t.” Spencer interjected.

“Tell me what I can do to make it better.”

“Right now, nothing. You’ve kind of done enough.” She replied sincerely. “But even though you did some pretty bad things, I came to tell you that you were right.”

“R-right? Right about what?”

“About the fact that I also did some pretty messed up things. I did take Malcolm and put your relationship with Ezra on the line. I don’t judge you for what you did because I know how tough it is to make that type of decision, but that doesn’t mean that I agree with it. And I want you to know that I don’t blame you for my parent’s divorce. My dad brought it upon himself. So, I want to say that I’m sorry as well.”

Spencer’s honest apology had Aria beaming with tear-filled eyes. Of course, she still felt terrible about what she had done and felt as if her friends were the last people she would want to talk to right now, but Spencer was an exception. She couldn’t be happier that Spencer came over and decided to talk to her, because she couldn’t bare lose her as a friend.

“Th-thank you,” she mouthed out through gulps, “and I still love you.”

“Of course, I still love you too as well, little big one.”

And they just stood there, Aria not being able to hold in any of her tears. But a bang at the door interrupted their recollection moment, and Aria made herself move over to the door. She gently pressed on the handle, and the door swooped open, almost knocking her in the face. Tanner and a few members of the police department were positioned in front of them.

“What is this about?” Spencer said, noticing that Aria was unable to put clear words together.

“We’re bringing in Aria Montgomery’s things back.”

“What? Wh-why?” This time it was Aria who questioned, taking a step forwards..

“We just received video-evidence that you weren’t here on the night of Dunhill’s death. You were spotted in New Hampshire on a surveillance camera. Now I don’t know what you were doing in New Hampshire or who sent the video, but for now, you are clear.” Tanner spoke with a low voice and slight lisp.

Aria stood there with her mouth wide open, phrases wanting to escape her lips, but she couldn’t form them. She was shocked at what she was hearing and instantly realized who had sent the footage. She looked over at Spencer, who didn’t shift at all, but she could sense the anger that was building up inside her. Spencer remained on the spot until the police had emptied the apartment, and with a bitter glare at Aria, she stomped fiercely towards the back entrance. She just made it out, when she heard her name being called weakly and a hand grabbed her wrist.

“Spencer! Please wait… please.” A small and cracked sob resonated in the tense atmosphere of the apartment.

She looked down, fury flashing in her coffee colored eyes, and took a moment to survey the picture in front of her. Aria, much shorter than she was, holding tightly onto her arm, pleading Spencer to not leave her alone, for she had been alone all this time but none of them had seemed to realize. It was this moment that she saw just how fragile and broken Aria looked. She had on a wide-collared black shirt, which revealed her collar bones that stood out boldly. Her arm was outstretched, and she looked at the thin and pale line that it was, her elbow bones peeking out and much larger than the rest of her limb. The pair of maroon leggings she had on where a bit baggy and large for a pair of pants that were supposed to be tight-fitting, and she observed how narrow her legs were and how pointy her knees had gotten. Her glossy, ample eyes mirrored desperation. She had remarked that lately, whenever they ran into Aria or met up with her, Aria would always say that she wasn’t hungry. None of them took that into much consideration as Aria had never been a big eater and they knew how much she hated when someone pestered her into it, so they all just shut up about it. But now that everything had come to light, Spencer understood why. Aria was drained of all energy or resources and could barely even keep herself together. Whatever A.D made her do, it kept eating away at her friend. And now it was more noticeable than ever.  
All of a sudden, Aria felt her feet give away beneath her, and she collapsed on the ground at Spencer’s feet. Spencer didn’t have the heart to leave her there. She now truly understood what Aria had been putting herself through, even if she did hurt the rest of the tribe. She kneeled down and cradled her best friend into a hug, holding her tighter than she ever had. Aria quickly pushed her away with a weak hand, and Spencer sat there confused. But then she saw the look on Aria’s face and a hand placed over her mouth, realizing what was about to happen. She swiftly lifted herself up, rapidly grabbed the trash can next to the sink, and fixed it in front of Aria, who instantly started throwing up the minimal contents that were in her stomach. Spencer rubbed circles on her back and tried to keep all her hair back, but it was too short to hold the front parts.

“Just let it all out.” 

And she did. After she was done, she coughed a bit and pushed the trash can away. Aria slumped her back down onto the edge of the couch, and breathed heavily. Sweat was pouring down her face, and she looked exhausted just from that.

“All better?”

Aria nodded her head ‘no’. She squinted her eyes trying to stop the droplets emerging from her eyes. She wanted to crawl under a rock and never come back out again. She still couldn’t get over what she had done. The look on Spencer’s face when Tanner announced why she was here really shattered her. Spencer had gone through so much already and Aria just made it worse for her. For all of them.

“Hey, look. Forget what I said earlier. Let’s get you something warm to wear and a hot soup.”

“I don’t want anything.” Her blunt response came back in a monotone tone, whilst she gazed into space.

“Come on Aria, you need to eat something. Get your strength back.”

“Why does it matter anyways? There’s no point in treating myself now. Not when I know that you all hate me.” She snapped.

Her retort surprised Spencer. How could she say that? Was she really that hard on herself?

“Aria! Look at me.” Aria turned her head slowly, locking her vision with Spencer’s eyes. “None of us hate you. Especially me, okay? We all still love you. We’re just a little mad at you. And we were all wrong in what we said. We were all hypocritical, okay? We all did terrible things. I mean look at Ali! She pretended to be dead for 5 years! And I joined the A-team once as well. None of us have excuses, and we didn’t hate each other afterwards. I can prove that because we’re all friends now, aren’t we? So please, don’t blame yourself for everything. Please.”

For a mild second, Spencer saw a ray of hope in Aria’s eyes. But it went away rather quickly. She examined her friend once again, and spotted a deep, carmine mark on Aria’s arm. She seized her appendage and Aria slightly winced at the touch of it.

“Where is this from?”

“Don’t feel sorry for me. I wasn’t a victim in this.”

“What do you mean?”

“I got it whilst doing one of A.D’s tasks. So don’t pretend like I was victimized.” A cold voice slithered from her chapped lips.

Spencer tried to figure out where she could have gotten it from, and realized that the only moment where Aria had been in contact with something ragged or sharp was when she destroyed the nursery. A feeling of dread and cold washed over her, and she abruptly felt no sympathy for Aria regarding that cut. But she flicked it away quickly.

“Well, you haven’t taken proper care of it. It could get infected you know. Let me get something to help you with it.” Spencer said whilst inching closer to Aria, reaching out a gentle hand.

“You don’t have to. I really couldn’t care less about it.” Aria scoffed.

“Oh, come on.” Spencer pushed.

“I’m serious. I don’t care.” She turned her head away, looking down.

Spencer gave up trying to convince her, remembering she had to leave to meet up with the others. She knew she couldn’t let Aria all alone, though.

“You need to stay with someone tonight.” Spencer gestured, her tone serious and firm.

“Hm?” Aria's eyes piqued up.

“Let’s both go back to my barn and you can sleep the night there.”

“Aren’t you meeting up with the others there?” She really didn't want to see them, especially in her current state.

“How could you possibly know that?” Spencer shifted, eyebrows raised.

“Just a guess," she breathed nonchalantly. "But no, I’m not going back there with you. I have no desire or the energy to face them right now.”

“I’ll face them for you. I’m not leaving you alone here, so you kind of have no choice.” She told her friend whilst placing a warm hand above Aria's frozen one.

Aria didn’t say anything, just curtly nodded in defeat, and Spencer helped her stand up. She definitely did not have the desire to go over there, but she didn’t have the stamina to put up a fight now. She just wanted to sleep. She was exhausted and tired, and for some reason pain seemed to travel through her whole body. When she heaved herself on her feet, white spots blurred her vision and she trampled a little bit on the spot.

“You alright?” Her eyebrows furrowed in concern.

“Just a little dizzy.”

“That’s why you need to build your strength back up,” her smart-mouth nature lingering in her voice.

Aria just let her head fall down and didn’t respond, unsure of what to say without triggering Spencer again. She felt as if the only reason Spencer was even helping her right now was because Aria took advantage of her own state and made herself look vulnerable, which made Spencer feel for her. She had done it unintentionally of course, but she still felt guilty about it.

“Let me get you a pair of long and comfortable pajamas. You cannot be warm in those things,” she said as she pointed towards Aria’s outfit. 

Aria simply nodded, and waited on the arm of the couch in her living room for Spencer. She pressed her palms into her eyes, trying to think. What she was trying to think of she didn’t know, but she was attempting to put some sort of thought track into her brain to keep her sane, even if she was drained. When Spencer returned, she lifted the folded clothing up and motioned to Aria who grabbed her cellphone and keys, and walked out as she still had her shoes on, locking the door behind.

After they got into Spencer’s car and ran the engine, there was complete silence for a while, with the exception of a few coughs emerging from Aria, which Spencer didn’t comment on, but she was kind of irritated by the lack of self-care Aria had presented. She kept throwing concerning looks towards her friend, who was simply staring out the window with her elbow propped up on the inner handle of the vehicle. At some point Aria lifted her head up and slouched down a bit, looking down at her hands and playing with her fingers. Spencer could clearly tell that Aria was trying to tell her something, but did not want to press her. After a moment of fiddling with her nails, Aria let out a low breath and opened her mouth to speak.

“I feel as if you’re just helping me out right now because I showed my ‘real self’ to you.”

Spencer was a bit confused, and tilted her head slightly to the side whilst piercing her lips. “What do you mean?”

“You know, I made myself look vulnerable and all that shit, and you saw my… injuries and that just made you feel sorry for me. And I feel like that’s selfish on my part. Like I don’t deserve your attention right now.”

“Aria, why would you ever think that?” Spencer questioned quite surprised.

“Well it’s true isn’t it? If I hadn’t latched onto your wrist and pleaded, and if you hadn’t seen my cut, you would’ve left and I would’ve still been in my apartment.”

Spencer had to admit, she did stay because she saw the desperation flashing through Aria’s eyes. If Aria hadn’t done what she did, Spencer would’ve flown out the door. She technically did, and Aria helplessly followed her in a last attempt to receive the comfort of a friend. If it hadn’t been for that specific moment, Spencer would have never noticed what Aria had truly put herself through, and she beat herself up for not realizing it earlier.

“I would be lying if I said that I would have stayed if you hadn’t reached out for me, so I partially agree with you.” She paused for a second. “But Aria, we… I, should’ve noticed that there was something going on with you earlier. I had a feeling that something was off, but I was too focused on everything else that I failed to see what you had been going through. I didn’t know that you were helping A.D, but I realize now that there were certain clues that I should’ve picked up on that would’ve helped me understand that you were not alright. And the thing I’m sorry for the most is that I judged you instantly after you confessed to us, and I shouldn’t have. I should’ve consulted you and asked you if you were okay, which you clearly are not, even if I was angry with you, because you still are my friend and I never want to see you hurt. But I also don’t want to see the others hurting, and you made all of us, including me, feel awful. So I won’t say that it’s all my fault, because it isn’t, it’s yours too, but I want you to know that it’s not all your fault either. So stop beating yourself up for it, because we all made and still make mistakes. You just happened to make a bigger one, and I don’t blame you for it, you were in a tough position. I just wish that you would’ve come to us before you did anything. And I shouldn’t have left your apartment nonetheless. And after you held onto me, I realized just how pained you were. Don’t think that you did something bad by ‘revealing’ yourself to me, you actually did something good because I was able to help you. Okay?”

The ‘okay’ Spencer said at the end was the softest ‘okay’ Aria had ever heard, even more so because Spencer looked at her with a forgiving smile when she said it. Aria stood up straight and looked back at her, responding with the same calm ‘okay’, just a little bit coarser due to her raspy voice. The rest of the trip was spent in quiet, Aria sometimes drifting off, as sleep was slowly starting to take over her, but she tried to fight it.


	2. A Guilt Too Heavy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is chapter 2, hope you enjoy. This is a shorter one; just trying to build up the tension.
> 
> as always, all rights belong to sarah shepherd and the show's writers

They reached the door of Spencer’s barn, both slightly shivering from the cold, although Aria more so, since she didn’t have a coat on. Spencer pressed on the door handle, knowing that it was open, as she lend the other girls keys to get in. Spencer stood in front of Aria and peaked inside, only to see that the others were either sitting down on sofas or standing up, talking amongst themselves quite loudly. Their attention was drawn to Spencer opening the door, and they all turned their heads around, only to see Aria behind her. They all had different looks on their face: Ali immediately turned around and stepped away, Hanna bend her head down but aimed her eyes towards Aria, and Emily was shifting on her feet and biting her lip, giving a kind of sympathetic look. Spencer pried the door opened further, letting Aria in and coming inside after her as she shut the door. Spencer mutely led Aria to her bedroom without looking at anyone and disappeared from view for a moment. She let Aria be by herself and told her to get some rest while she discussed with everyone else. Closing the door to her bedroom softly, she returned to her living room. She was instantly bombarded with a question from Ali:

“Why did you bring her here?” She seemed aggravated, although Spencer thought it was a bit exaggerated.

“Ali, I-”

“What is she doing here?” Ali interrupted her.

“Well if you would let me talk, then I could answer you.” That shut Ali up and all eyes were now promptly on her. “Look. I know that we are all mad at her, but as she pointed out when we found her, we all made mistakes and we never shut each other out so roughly. Especially since she said multiple times she’s sorry, she explained herself and suffered as well-”

“She suffered? What about us?” Ali cut Spencer off again, earning a nasty glare from her.

“Listen to me instead of interrupting. We were hurt, yes, but she was as well. Probably more than she’d care to admit. I shouldn’t have told her that she ruined everything I ever had, because she didn’t. And none of us, especially me, should have called her out like that or judged her so fiercely because that just makes us hypocrites. Plus, I’ve talked to her, and I think she’s punished herself enough. I know she was the one doing the ‘deeds’, but she did have a tough choice and didn’t know what to do. It’s her fault as well, but not entirely. And I should’ve noticed that there was something wrong with her earlier.”

“What do you mean by ‘there was something wrong with her’?” This time it was Hanna who chimed in.

“Well, from what I’ve noticed, she’s not doing too well, mentally and physically.”

“Physically?” Emily asked, seeming quite worried.

“Well health-wise. She’s not eating, throwing up, dizzy and all that. And also, she’s got this giant scratch on her arm that she kept hiding away from me that she got from… destroying the nursery.” She said the last part in a lower voice, but the girls still heard her nonetheless.

“You shouldn’t feel sorry for her when she did that; she did it on her own terms and wrecked our things in a gruesome way.” When Ali spat this out as she edged closer to Emily, trying to seek her comfort. “You keep talking about her like she’s the victim in this, and it’s getting quite tiring.”

Spencer had now become annoyed. Was Ali really this thickheaded and selfish? 

“That’s because she is a victim as well!” Spencer shouted indignantly. “I know we were all victims, but that doesn’t mean we should ignore her own needs or not worry about her! Maybe we’re mad at her, but it doesn’t give us the excuse to completely stop caring about her! She’s our friend for crying out loud!” 

“Is she really, after what she’s done?” 

“You know what, right now, I’m not nearly as angry at her as I am at you, Ali.” 

Spencer stormed out of the lounging area and towards the room she left Aria in, furious. Once again cracking the door open gently, she looked to see what Aria was doing, only to find her gone, the pajamas placed neatly on the bed where Spencer had put them before.

***

After Spencer left Aria in complete darkness, she went ahead and turned on the small lamp on the bedside table so she could feel the warmth of light. Her mind was running laps, even in her state of exhaustion. The continuous thought that penetrated her head was that she should not be here right now. The only thing she could possibly be doing is showering her friends in apologies and going after A.D herself, or to somehow anger A.D so that he/she would come after her. She would’ve turned herself to the police if she could, but she had no reason to; it would not make sense. The curtains of the slightly opened window fluttered in the chill air, touching her shoulder. She stared out at the grass carpet and the potent tree that was situated to the side of Spencer’s large garden. She played around with her fingers a little bit, and then pursued to grasp the wooden edge of the window and drag it out. There was no fly net. It could be her chance to escape. She turned her vision to the pajamas on the corner of the bed, so neatly placed by Spencer. As kind as Spencer had been, Aria thought that she couldn’t be completely forgiven at this point. She heard some sort of shouting emerging from the living room, and speculated that it was regarding her. Spencer and Ali’s voices were resonating, but she couldn’t make out the words. Placing herself on her knees, she put one arm in front of her and pushed herself over the windowsill. Careful not to fall, Aria scooted herself on her bottom and jumped down the small height that she was at. Once her feet were promptly on the ground and she felt somewhat capable of moving, she took in a few deep breaths and sprinted over the lawn, ducking her head just in case. She made it to the pavement of the street and lurked behind some voluminous bushes. Once she felt as if she was out of the clear, she walked on, aiming to reach a familiar area where she could call on A.D, hoping to get them to hurt her instead of her friends, or at least some form of reveal. 

***

“She’s gone. Guys, she’s gone!” Spencer shouted, alarmed.

“What do you mean she’s gone? How?” Emily stormed over to where Spencer was, swiveling her head around the empty room. Spencer entered and saw the untouched pajamas. She felt a cold lane of air hit her face, and looked up to see that the window had been opened. 

“She left through the window,” Spencer paused for a moment before continuing and turning to the rest of the girls. “Oh god, this isn’t good, this isn’t good at all,” she said whilst she pressed her dry palms to her face, bending her head over.

“What do you think she’s gonna do?” Asked Hanna.

“You know what she’s gonna do. She’s gonna talk or turn herself in to A.D.” Spencer answered quickly, head still aimed downwards.

“And why is that such a bad thing?” Ali smirked from across the room, an everyone turned their heads her way. Spencer raised her vision and approached her with a contorted face, radiating anger. 

“You’re still going on? Because I would be glad to stop you.” 

“I’m just saying, considering what she di-“

“I said, ARE YOU DONE?” The words came out harsh and loud, making Ali jump slightly. “Because I am.” She calmed herself instantly. “She deserves our attention no matter what she did. You on the other hand, I can’t say the same about.” Spencer gave her a menacing look and madly walked out the door, Hanna and Emily following her with no reluctance. Ali grabbed Emily’s arm, pulling her towards her. “Are you really going to listen to what she’s saying?” 

“Aria’s as much of a friend as you are. And that was a messed-up thing to say,” Emily yanked her hand out of Ali’s grasp and marched away, hoping Aria was alright.

***

Aria tapped on A.D’s contact and waited for them to pick up. It rang a couple of times, and she immediately grew impatient. When they finally answered, Aria wasted no time in talking.

“Listen here, whoever you are. I will not hurt my friends any longer, you hear me? I have done so many things for you, and I need some sort of explanation about who you are or why you are doing this, and I am going to get it. Hurt me for all I care, you can have me, but I will not let you touch even one hair on my friend’s heads, and that includes Ezra and my family. So, tell me where you want to meet up and I will come. But I am done following your orders. Release those papers that I filed about Ezra, take me, for all I care, just stop making me do all of this.” Aria let out a huffed breath, and A.D listened patiently to her rant.

“Aria, you are the one who got yourself into this in the first place. After all this time, you tell me that you want me to release those papers, when I could’ve done this in the first place and a none of this would have happened.” A fragmented voice was heard, the static and electronic modification not sounding nice in Aria’s ears.

“I don’t care about what would have happened or not. I want my friends unharmed. Should I turn myself in to the police for Archer’s death? Is that what you want?” 

“Aria, I couldn’t care less about you saying that you’re responsible for his death, but if you want to do that to redeem yourself to your friends, go ahead. I can make that possible for you.”

“What? Never mind, I need answers. Now.”

“Fine. Meet me back in the woods. In 20 minutes. Be there.” 

***

Aria was pretty sure that she was digging her own grave by going into the forest with no weapon or plan prepared. She had no idea what to say or do, and she couldn’t come up with a reasonable answer for herself either. She was desperately trying to think, reaching to every corner of her shattered mind, yet nothing seemed to rip through the continuous trail of guilty thoughts she possessed. Scratching her head and proceeding to cover herself as well as she could with her jittering arms, she made her way through the dense woods, searching for the clearing she had come across earlier when the image of her friends’ disappointment stood before her. Aria looked closely at the ground, not wanting to step on some random living thing or object; you never knew what mischief laid in this area. Twigs and leaves crunched under her light footsteps: another sound that wouldn’t allow her to visualize her thoughts properly. 

She eyed a familiar murky tree she had seen before, and rounded it to the left, retracing the steps she made a few hours ago. Sure enough, she was right in the middle of the empty, circular space she had found herself in prior. Not-so distant memories flashed through her brain, flooding the far-away nooks of her mind. It made her eyes shut and head hurt, and she madly tried to push them away. Opening her eyes; her view not constricted anymore, she could see that one was there, but she was sure that that would change soon. She hugged herself and shifted her weight on her feet, but her minimal energy source she seized had already been depleted, and she couldn’t bear to stand up anymore. She lowered herself to the dirty ground and sat gingerly, not wanting any kindling to pierce her skin. After all, the fabric of her trousers was considerably thin. 

She didn’t need to wait long, because not even one minute later, a familiar sound of ruffling emerged from the blackness that engulfed the scenery. She promptly stood up, dusting herself of any dirt particles or miniscule rocks. She  
felt a sudden rush of air behind her neck, like a shallow breath, and she didn’t have to turn around to know that A.D had finally graced her with their presence.

“I’m here, now tal-” 

She didn’t have time to finish her sentence, as a gloved hand was brutally placed upon her mouth, covering it completely. In reflex, she breathed through her nostrils right away. She panicked and tried to trash her limbs about as she screamed, but only a muffled sound escaped her mouth. The leather hand was pressed firmly on her lips, to the point that it hurt her. Her eyes were leaking small tears that fell onto the rough material of the glove. Aria felt a rather uncomfortable prick in the tender flesh of her neck, and instantaneously lifted her arm up towards the certain spot. She didn’t even have time to completely graze the stinging area, as her eyelids slowly enveloped her orbs in a graceful hug, leaving her with a dull sense of serenity.


End file.
